Series: Plays for AmericansShow: Ghost Story
Date: Feb 22 1942

SIGNATURE MUSIC

ANNOUNCER:

The National Broadcasting Company presents: Plays for Americans, by Arch Oboler. (Pause--one beat) As a further contribution to the war effort, NBC brings you a limited series of new plays dedicated to people of goodwill everywhere who believe in the inherent dignity of man--who fight together now for a better world for all. This is a war of men and ideas, and these are plays of the men and ideas that make up our America of today. As the fourth drama of this series we bring you Mr. Oboler's new play, Ghost Story.

JOE:

I'm sittin' here in the factory by my lathe, so a guy sticks a microphone up in front of my nose and he says I should talk to ya. This is goin' on the radio, so I'm talkin' to ya. Let me warn ya first. An' this ain't one of those phony warnin's like the mystery guys do--ya know, like the kids go for when they start with this, "Ya better turn off the radio! Blood! Blood! Blood!" This is me talkin' and I'm just a guy who works for a livin' like you mebbe do--with his hands. But if you're a wise guy I'm tellin' ya--don't listen no more. Go on, tune in somethin' else. There's music someplace else, or there's some guy sellin' somethin', or some guy wishin' he was sellin' somethin', or a dame doin' fancy singin'--there's plenty you can tune in. But if ya wanta hear about somethin' that happened last night that--that mebbe never happened to another guy in all the time that guys like me has been gettin' born and livin' and dyin' in this world--well, jus' sit and listen. (Quickly) I'm six foot one, one hundred eighty-three pounds, twenty-four, no wife, no dependents--there you got it. . . . I said it fast, didn't I? Well, I got practice. Yeah, in front of my Draft Board. I tol' them. I tol' them plenty. And they tol' me.

SOUND:

Fade in a murmur of committee behind

VOICE:

Joe, what's the matter with you--we're your neighbors! Your friends!

JOE:

O. K. Listen to what I'm sayin'!

VOICE:

But, Joe, we got our orders from Washington. Anybody essential to National Defense we gotta defer!

How do ya like them potatoes! I want to fight--I can't fight! I'm tellin' ya! I got outta there and I'm ready to slug the first guy that looks at me! Essential industry! What kinda double talk's that? They want essential--what's more essential than a guy who wants to get in there and fight! What's a war! Guy's fightin', so how about me? How about me? There ain't no answer. No. The big shots lay down the law and a guy like me, he's sunk. Now, wait a minnit, wait a minnit! If you're thinkin' "What's this guy blowin' off about? Is he tryin' to tell us what a great guy he is? A hero with red blood an' hair on his chest an' all that mallarky?" No, mister, no hero. This is just a story of me--a guy who wanted to fight, but no soap, essential to war industry--a master mechanic--gotta stick behind that lathe, watchin' the machinery go 'round because Pa was a master mechanic and made a master mechanic outta me! So it's back behind the machine, Joe Dunham, and shut up and keep your nose clean! Ain't you heard--you're essential to the industry! The guys at the plant start givin' me the rib.

VOICES:

Hi, ya, General!
What's cooking, Admiral?
How goes it in the trenches?
How many Japs did ya knock off today, Major?

JOE:

Yeah--the rib--but that's not botherin' me. Only one thing's botherin' me. Guys are on ships and guys are in tanks an' airplanes an' fox holes in the jungles fightin'--and me, I'm workin' from nine to five behind a lathe--yeah, nine to five. . . . I read about them guys at Pearl Harbor--I read about them guys with MacArthur--I read about men fightin' in China and alongside them Dutchmen and pretty soon I can't take it no more! I gotta get outta the factory! I don't want a lathe--I wanna tommy gun in my hand! I don't wanna caliper and micrometer in my hand--I wanna be sightin' along a rifle barrel--yeah, at a Jap, pressin' a trigger! So everybody thinks I'm nuts. My girl-

Yeah--everybody. So for weeks it's nine-- (Whistle sounds far, far back) to five. (Factory whistle far, far back) Nine-- (Factory whistle far, far back) Five (Factory whistle far, far back, continuing with a long beat in between each blast, far, far back, far behind) Every day--every morning--every night--nine to five--nine to five--sit by the lathe--stick the castings in--out with the old one--in with the new one-nine to five--nine to five--over and over--safe as in a crib-- (Intensely) I couldn't take it! Not me! Nobody could keep me there! I made up my mind! Yesterday! My last nine to five! My last sittin' there safe as in a crib! Behind the machine! Yeah last nine to five. All day long the usual rib-

VOICES:

(back) Hi, Joe, where's the Army!
Say, how goes it in the Halls of Montezuma?
How many battleships did you get today, Leftenant?
How's the ammunition holdin' out, Colonel?

JOE:

But yesterday it didn't make much difference. I had it figgered down to three one-hundred-thousandths! Shut off the lathe--punch that time-clock for the last time--take that lunch pail and walk--keep walkin' and ridin' straight an' far from any factory and any lathe--walkin' and ridin' to some spot where Joe Dunham, master mechanic, just wasn't anymore--and Joe Smith, private, got himself a gun! So yesterday at the factory, with the lathe turnin' (Fade in sound of lathes back behind) Five o'clock. (Sound of factory whistle far, far back) Turned off my lathe-- (Click of lathe dying down) For the last time!

VOICES:

So long, soldier Joe!
See you tomorrow, Major!
See you tomorrow, General!

JOE:

No--they wouldn't see me tomorrow. Not them or the factory or the lathe. I felt good thinkin' that. I felt good ridin' home--an' I felt good seein' her for the last time--

I got away from her early. O. K. Finish. Her--the factory. . . . Back to my room--pack my things--yeah--couldn't wait-- Get out quick that night. So I packed quick--then I saw that somethin' was missin'! Something-- (In discovery) Yeah, my pipe! Where had I left . . . ? Then I remembered--on the shelf next to my lathe in the factory! You know how a guy feels about his pipe-- O. K. Pack everything else--take a suitcase and on the way to the bus station stop off and pick up my pipe! Then--on my way (Slowly) I had it all figured out. . . .

WATCHMAN:

(back) What's the matter, Joe--forget somethin'?

JOE:

Yeah, I remember--Fogarty, the night watchman--did I forget somethin'. Yeah. . . . I went into the plant. (Sound of echoing footsteps continuing back behind) Quiet in the plant--kinda dark-- Two o'clock in the mornin'--seven more hours until the next shift came in--my shift. And I wouldn' be there. I felt swell. I yelled out (Yelling . . . echo chamber) I won't be here! (Sound of footsteps) I kep' walkin'. Cold in the machine shop--cold and dead--that certain kinda' dead that machines have when they ain't runnin'. . . . Then-- (Door back) Door to the part of the shop where my machine was. . . . (Closing door) Went in. (Puzzled) Night light on. . . . But that hummin'--machine runnin' . . . (Sharply) at my machine! Yeah! What--who--a guy sittin'--at my lathe! Yeah--workin'! Two o'clock in the mornin' like I said--and a guy workin' at my machine! . . . (Down) I get kind of, how do they say, carried away like even when I talk about it. O. K. I'll tell ya about it straight from now on as if you--yeah, you--had been there with me. . . . (Echo back) Hey! Hey, you!

I'm goin' to ask you sittin' out there somethin'. Have you ever been scared? Naw, I don't mean the scare that comes to you when you ain't got enough money to pay the rent, or the automobile mebbe nearly goes off the road, or you're gonna lose your job, or somebody bigger 'n you starts to take a poke at you, or you read the headlines and you start thinkin' about your kids. Those are bad enough scares but I'll tell you somethin' worse--the scare that comes to ya in a place that you know real well--like your own room or your own basement or your own attic--or the place where you work--where everythin's the same and yet there's somethin'. . . . The guy at my lathe said, "Your work--all of us--all of us" an' the air was all of a sudden cold . . . and I didn' want to turn my head . . . I didn't want to . . . turn my head. . . . (Fade in sound of machines) Then I heard lathes--lots of them runnin'--all of them-- (Bring in sound of machinery behind) I turned my head. The machines all over the shop workin'! Runnin' in the dark--and then there was kind of a light and then I saw--yeah, it was all right! Guys workin'! Yeah--the new shift! That was it--later than I thought--the new shift! . . . (Voice flattens) But I didn't know any of these guys! Not one! Every lathe runnin' and me not knowin' one of 'em. What was this! Had they fired everybody and put in a lot of scabs? . . . I'll tell ya.

SOUND:

Fade in sound of lathe machines continuing behind

JOE:

Hey! You! Hey! Who are these guys?

RUSSIAN WORKER:

I told you--we must work!

JOE:

But you said they was workin' for me! Yeah! For me! What do ya mean for me!

He didn' answer me. Bent back to the machine and kept on workin'. Didn' answer me. All right--so I went to the next machine, where Mike Rogan always used to work.

SOUND:

Fade in sound of machine again

JOE:

You! You tell me! Who gave you this job? What is this, a new shift?

CZECH:

I'm working for you.

JOE:

Hey, wait a minnit! You too? Who ever asked you to work for me?

CZECH:

I'm Czech.

JOE:

So you're a Pole, so you're a Czech, so I'm nuts! What gives here? Hey, you! You over there! You got some sense! You tell me!

VOICE:

I am Serb.

JOE:

What is this? You guys talk like the--the League of Nations! What's what you are got to do with me?

POLE:

We cannot work when you talk.

JOE:

So I'll keep on talkin'! Who cares if ya work?

SOUND:

Machinery cuts dead

JOE:

The minute I said that--the machines stopped. Yeah--everyone of the fifteen or twenty guys reached over and pulled the switches on the lathes and turned around slow and sat there lookin' at me. An' it was kinda dark and all their faces and all their eyes. . . . And then the first one started talkin', and he said:

RUSSIAN:

(fades in) You asked us why we have to work. Yes--we will tell you. Each of his own crime (Fades), each in his own way. . . .

JOE:

Crime? What--? And then the one who said he was Polish got up from the lathe, stood there, and started to talk. . . .

Music:

Behind

POLE (fades in):

My name is Joseph Rozanski. I lived in the largest city in my country, Warsaw, I had an education much above my station in life because my father was a very scholarly man and he taught me many things. I became an apprentice to a machinist, and soon I was working in a factory and making a good living. I met a girl--I loved her--we got married--we had three children. Life to me was good. I had my work--my family--and that was enough. Trouble in the world? I did not care. I had what I wanted. I was working in the factory when the bombers of the Germans came. Just before the first bomb hit, I remember I was thinking, "Tomorrow I will take the family to the country for fishing." My family is in the country now. The Germans were very careful on their first bombings. Poland was first--it was important to show the rest of the world what the bombers could do. My family is in the country--under the ground. Trouble in the world? I did not care. I had what I wanted. That was my crime.

Music:

Out.

JOE:

He sat down and his eyes stayed on me. And then the one who called himself a Czech got up.

Music:

Behind

CZECH:

(fades in) My name is Anton Warshak. I lived in Praha. Praha was very beautiful. I worked for Skoda. It is one of the great factories of the world for munitions. Small guns and great artillery and shells and bombs and naval artillery and anti-aircraft guns--the finest in the world. When Munich came, I said, "What does it matter--as long as I can sit at my machine and can work, what does it matter?" Then the Germans went into Sudetenland and I said to the other workers, "You see--that is all they wanted! What was Germany for the Germans. . . ." I was a great fool. Soon they were in Praha. Soon we at the machines were slaves and they were the masters. Czechs are not good slaves. But I said to the others, "Let us stay at the machines and work--good work." But they said, "No--the Germans will use the machines against our friends." I said, "Czechoslovakia has no friends!" While the others worked slowly and badly and did many acts of sabotage, I kept on working as always. I made the machines that are killing those who are the friends of my Czechoslovakia. That is my crime. . . .

Music:

Out

JOE:

And he sat down and another stood up and spoke-

Music:

Behind

FRENCHMAN:

(fade in) My name is Paul Renée. I lived in Pordais, which is a factory town fifty kilometers from Bordeaux. You see my hands--ever since there have been machines there has been a Renée whose hands have known how to do wonders with iron and brass and steel. I owned a small factory and of all the workers I was the best. I made little things--most unimportant--and most profitable. Life was very good and very secure. I laughed when I heard that the foolish Allemands were marching again. The Maginot Line of fortifications had the Nazi madmen forgotten the Maginot Line? Yes, between them and my factory was always the great Maginot Line! That was my strength (Voice flattens) But there was no strength in me--only in the thought that there was concrete and steel to protect me! So I went on making profitable things with my machines--amusing--beautiful--profitable things. . . . The Maginot Line . . . I forgot that in this war there was no protection in defense . . . there was only the protection of the will to win. I forgot that. It was my crime.

Music:

Out

JOE:

He sat down and what was in his face was in all their faces pain--yeah, pain--like they were hurt--pain like as if they couldn't stand it any more! And then the Russian was on his feet, and this is what he said.

Music:

Behind

RUSSIAN (fade in):

I--yes . . . I will speak. I lived in a Union of Workers. For many years my people had starved and had struggled for a dream that each passing year brought closer to reality. A union of men no one of whom had too much . . . no one of whom had too little. . . . To make this come true we put our lives into the machines that turned our soil and drilled into it . . . into the machines that would change our nation in one man's lifetime from a place of great stupidity and great unequality into a worker's paradise. But, most of all, the machines worked to make the other machines of war, for there was an enemy of all workers crouching beyond our borders, an enemy we knew would reach out a hand of friendship and strike with the other. Yes, the machines of war, and always our leaders told us that the skill of one worker at his machine gives strength to a hundred soldiers! For bravery in this new war, they told us, would not be enough when the enemy has more airplanes in the sky than you have, when his guns outshoot yours, when his tanks go faster than yours, then brave flesh alone and the strength that is within a free man is not enough, for the bombers do not think of freedom and the tanks do not think of freedom, and it is the bombers and the tanks and the guns that win the war. This our leaders told us and then the war did come, and at first I was very brave as I sat at my machine and sang the songs of the workers. But the enemy came closer and closer--and his Stuka bombers were in the sky, and his Panzer divisions closer and closer--and I began to have great fear. They were strong, the enemy. No one had stopped them. Could they be stopped? . . . And then the sound of their guns was in the air--but our leaders told us to keep working! Our soldiers would turn them back! The machine must keep working! But my hand on the machine was like water! Our soliders stop them? No! No one could stop them! I left my machine! I left the factory! I ran! We were lost! All of us lost! . . . I left the machine . . . in a Union of the Workers. . . . My crime was the greatest of all.

Music:

Out with above

JOE:

And when he stopped talking, he just stood there--they all just stood there looking at me. I said:

JOE (back--slight echo):

Why do you stand there looking at me? All of you! Why do you tell me these things?

SOUND:

Eerie effect behind

CZECH:

We heard you were going away.

FRENCHMAN:

It would have been a great loss.

POLE:

So we came to do your work.

RUSSIAN:

Once we were workers.

SOUND:

Effect out

JOE:

The Russian said that--he stood where he was, but suddenly his words were all around me.

SOUND:

Effect behind

RUSSIAN (in very close):

Once we were workers.

SOUND:

Effect out

JOE:

Were . . . workers? Were? And then, as if they knew what I was thinking they began to speak.

SOUND:

Effect behind

VOICES (in unison):

Dead.

SOUND:

Sharp intake of breath by Joe

CZECH (with great simplicity):

Do not be afraid, America. We were workmen.

POLE:

I died at my machine.

FRENCHMAN:

I died in my factory.

CZECH:

They stood me against a factory wall and shot me.

VOICES (in unison):

Dead. . . .

JOE (with great difficulty):

You--dead--come to help me?

RUSSIAN:

Come, comrades! To work!

VOICES (echo):

To work.

SOUND:

Click of various switches and whine of various machines starting--fading back slowly behind

JOE:

And the machines began to work again--and they sat behind the machines--the dead! You hear me--the dead! Sitting at the machines and working with their dead hands for me--Joe Dunham--for me! The dead showing me what to do! I couldn't look at them! I fell to my knees to the floor! And through the floor I could feel the machines running--the machines!--for me! (Bring up sound of machines as transition--cut cold on cue with factory whistle. Joe says calmly:) Then the factory whistle blew time for the new shift, and I woke up, and I pulled myself up off of the floor and there was nobody there. Nobody . . . only, next to my machine, there was a big pile of finished work--of machined castings--that never was there before. And I went over and touched them--and they were real--as real as the words I'd heard. . . . When I started telling you all this, you remember I told you if you were a wise guy not to listen any more. I was a wise guy, too, but last night dead men did my work for me. That's all I know. Dead men did my work for me. And one of them said that one worker at his machine gives strength to a hundred soldiers. And another one said that just being brave in this war is not enough. You got to have guns and ships and tanks. O. K. O. K. Now if you don't mind go away. I got my work to do.

SOUND:

Click of switch whine of machine starting--hold as transition--segue into musical curtain.